From 925 - 966

925

EVERYONE'S heart is Dharmakshetra
where the battle between the forces of Good and Evil is fought. The whole
country is Dharmakshetra. So, the mothers and children of this land must be
devoted to Dharma, above all. The Gita begins with the words, Dharmakshetra,
and ends with the words: "Sarva Dharmaan Parithajiya"; "Through Dharma, you
have to transcend Dharma". That is why Kausalya exhorted Rama when He went
into the forest: "May the Dharma, which you are upholding by this act, be
your guardian when you are in the forest as an exile". And Rama upheld
Dharma even under the most trying circumstances.

926

THIS World is His play; it is not an empty dream; it
has purpose and use; it is the means by which one can discover God; see Him
in the beauty, grandeur, the order and the majesty of Nature. These are
shadows of His Glory and His splendour; that is why the Vedas have three
Sections or Kandas; Karma, Upasana and Jnana. Karma leads to the
consciousness of the ever-present, immanent, all powerful God. Upasana or
adoration of that God lends to the knowledge that He is in all. When you
experience that, there is no second, that is Jnana.

927

MY place is among you, with you and wherever work
lies. That is why I moved among you and stood at your back. This is just to
show you that, even in your own places, when you do Bhajan or some other
type of adoration like serving children, the sick or the poor, I do not sit
on a special seat, apart and distant. Do not believe I am on the pedestal
that you offer Me. I am part of you, a partner and partaker in all your
efforts, inspiring and instructing when you ask or need inspiration and
instruction.

928

BY developing
spiritual qualities, you will be promoting the resuscitation of this country
and its culture. Look at the warning that the sacred texts offer! Somaka,
the Asura, stole the Vedas! Ravana kidnapped Sita, Duryodhana grasped an
empire; Kamsa slaughtered children; but not one of them realised their
heart's desire that their names be exalted by history. Sentence of death
awaits everyone, cutting off their pride and pomp. Some young persons feel
that the work they have on hand gives them great pleasure but they do not
pay heed to its future consequences. When you seek beneficial results, you
have to involve yourselves in beneficial activity.

929

THERE are some who are attracted by various systems
and methods like Hathayoga, Kriyayoga or Rajayoga, which claim to help
people to realise the self. But I must tell you that none of these can make
you realise God - I am saying this most emphatically. The Prema Yoga,
Discipline of Love, alone can lead you to God. Those Yogas may calm the
minds' agitation temporarily and may improve health and prolong life for a
few more years - but that is all that they can do. What is the good you hope
to achieve with that body in those extra years? If Love is absent, they
weigh you down as life's big burdens.

930

WHAT is the immortal part of man? Is it the wealth
he has accumulated? The residences he has built, the physique he has
developed, the health he has acquired, and the family he has reared? No, all
that he has done, developed or earned are destroyed; he has to leave them
all to the ravages of time. He cannot take with him even a handful of earth,
the earth he loved so much. If only the dead could take with them a handful
each, the Earth would have become scarce; it should have been rationed by
now! Discover the Immortal "I"; and know that it is the spark of God in you!
Live in the companionship of that vast measureless Supreme and you will be
rendered vast and measureless. Consider all objects that you collect here as
given on trust to be used in this caravansari, during your pilgrimage, in
this Karmashetra.

931

THE law of
Karma is not an iron law. By dedication, by purification which invites
benediction, its effects can be modified and its rigour mitigated. Do not
despair; do not lose heart. When vices hold sway over your heart, it becomes
foul and sooty. The flames of Kama, Krodha and Lobha char the heart. Grace
is provided by the quenching of these flames. Grace confers Ananda, which
Kama, Krodha and Lobha can never confer.

932

WHY is it that the World reveres Rama and revolts at
Ravana? Rama is not its uncle's son or Ravana its step mother's child. It is
the kinship of the spirit, your innate goodness, responding lovingly and
adoringly to the goodness in Rama and reacting revoltingly to the wickedness
of Ravana. It is not enough nor is it essential that you should utter the
name of Rama loudly, respect it in the fullness of love and admiration. If
you have no spirit of love in you, dig into your heart with external
instruments like Raga, Stotra etc., and it will start to flow.

933

WE are today celebrating the Advent of Krishna. The
Avatar (incarnation) in the Krishna. Form has a vast mystery enshrined in
it. Brindavan (the forest of Brinda) is the tangled jungle of life. The cows
tended by Lord Krishna in Brindavan are none other than the humans that are
helpless without His care and guidance. Gokula (the herds of cows) is the
name given in the Bhagavatham (book on the Glory of the Lord) to the region
where Krishna tended the cows. "Go" means also the individual who is
enclosed in the body. So, Gokula, is the region inhabited by man.

934

ONE poet has sung, "Oh, Krishna, Oh, Gopala, do not
count on your being kind to me, being moved by my appeals for mercy. Don't I
know that you killed with your own hands your maternal uncle? You killed the
very nurse who came endearingly to you in order to feed you at her breast!
With no iota of compassion towards the father of your dearest devotees, you
tortured him and killed him while the son, Prahlada was looking on! You
approached Bali as if for alms, and when he gladly placed all he had at your
feet, you trampled on his head and pressed him into the nether regions! How
can a heart that has no tenderness melt at my misery"? Yes, the Lord is
above all attachments, He has no favorites or foes.

935

BY THE example of your lives, you have to restore
confidence among the people in the higher values of life. Do not neglect the
great lessons embedded in Sanathana Dharma, which have sustained countless
generations in this land for many centuries. "May all the Worlds be happy",
this is the goal towards which Sanathana Dharma is leading us. Welcome
within the fold of your Love, all men without distinction or race or
religion, colour or class. Have the picture of the Happy, Love filled human
community in your heart. That will give you enough encouragement in your
mission.

936

ISSA Vassyam Idam
Sarvam; "All this is enveloped by God". All this is soaked in God; saturated
with God. Everything is the substance of God. We are on the Earth; around it
revolves the moon. Both, the Earth and the Moon are illumined by the Sun.
Dependent on the Sun, planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus,
Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn dutifully move along the orbits at different
speeds. Their Satellites also belong to the Solar family. Whenever we lift
our eyes up to the sky at night, we notice Stars beyond numbers. And in the
Milky Way, we see thick masses of Star Clusters. In space, there are more
than ten thousand crores of Stars, and regarding the Galaxies in the Milky
Way and elsewhere, we have more than ten crores. Without being lost in
numbers, we must ponder over the mystery of the Unity and Harmony of this
Cosmic projection.

937

IT IS not
possible to consider Creation and the Creator, Nature and God as different
or separate. Can we see that waves are separate from the sea? They are of
the sea, with the sea, and from the sea. Man too is of God, with and from
God. The bubble is born in water, stays in water and is lost in water. The
Cosmos too is a bubble born in the Absolute, exists as the Absolute and
merges in the Absolute or Paramatma. Nara (the human) is the bubble. God (Narayana)
is the sea. Recognise this truth, as the bubble cannot be conceived without
positing water. The Cosmos, this World, cannot be conceived without God.

938

GOOD men are the targets for maligning by the small.
Have your own errors and evils hidden so that you can tackle them in
solitude; do not inflict them on others. Wrestle with them and overwhelm
them in the silence of Sadhana. Deal with others only beneficially and in
joyful cooperation. Look at Lord Siva. The poison, which will ruin the World
ruthlessly, has been contained in His throat! The Moon that can shower cool,
calm comfort is worn by Him on His head for all the Worlds to benefit from!
That is a lesson for you. Why render others miserable, because you are too
weak to suppress the bandits your heart has welcomed?

939

I KNOW there are many of you who argue and discuss
how and in what manner these structures came to be built so grandly. If you
have known Me through and through there will be no such argument at all. You
will know that this is but an insignificant product of My power. I have done
this only as an example; unless those who lead are themselves active and
earnest to bend and bear the burden, all those who are encouraged to follow
will lose heart and miss the way. Religious leaders have a great
responsibility in this respect. People fly high, only to cast their eyes on
a wider circle, searching for sustenance as vultures do! The eye belies what
the wings proclaim.

940

WHEN you
have filled your heart with sympathy for the distressed, the Lord will
shower His Grace. Draupadi had earned the Grace through her devotion and
virtues. Sita, too, had stuck to the highest ideals of life in spite of her
severe sufferings. She was kept as a prisoner by her abductor. When Hanuman
offered to cross the ocean with her on his shoulders and take her safe to
her Lord Rama, she replied that she would not allow herself to be abducted
back from the custody of Ravana since that would deprive Rama of the chance
to punish him for his crime and retrieve her. Quite in consonance with
Dharma.

941

THE Gita is His
Command; how can you earn the Master's Grace if you do not carry out the
Master's commands. If the son says, "Leave me to myself, I need no
instructions from you"; how can he expect the father to give him a share of
the property? The Gita also helps you to recognise the incarnations of God.
Usually, when the Lord appears with Form, man is pestered by doubts and he
actually loses the precious chance. He asks himself and all those whom he
meets "Is it true?"; "Can it be true?"; and before his doubts are removed,
he deserts the quest and wanders into the wilderness. Of course, steady
enquiry is essential! Do not be led by others; awaken your own reason; amass
your own experience; and decide for yourself your own path.

942

NOTHING that is experienced will go to waste. It
will shape the course of events. It will change attitudes and habits. It
will purify and clarify situations and outlooks. That is why I want you to
read the Gita; it is like learning Eatha (Swimming) - this learning of the
Gita. Eatha saves you from drowning. Gita saves you from drowning in the
treacherous flood of worldly desires. The Gita is the real purpose for which
the Avatar of Krishna was undertaken.

943

TO condemn all is unjust, untrue, and unkind. Take
My own instance. I never exult when I am extolled, nor shrink when I am
reviled. Few have realised My purpose and significance: but I am not worried
when things that are not in Me are attributed to Me. Why should I worry?
When things that are in Me are mentioned, why should I exult? "Sayiki Sarvam
Yes, Yes, Yes". For Sai, it is always S.S.S. If you say "Yes, you are the
Lord", I am the Lord to you. If you say "No", I am "No" to you. I am "Ananda,
Shantham, Dhanam", Bliss, Equanimity, and Courage. Take them as your "Atonathathwam"
and you will not be wrong.

944

THE influence of the Divine is such that while you are contemplating it, all
traces of envy and greed will disappear from the mind. The boy Krishna had
entered a Gopi's house and was just standing beneath the pot of curds when
she discovered Him. Krishna ran out into the street and the Gopi pursued Him
and wanted to catch Him quickly, for she was so distressed that the boy was
running in the hot sun. She never worried about the loss of curds or milk or
butter, but the very thought of Krishna's tender feet walking over the hard
stones in the sun was something she could not bear. The Prema that Krishna
showered made everyone forget everything else. He too gave such disarming
replies to the queries of the mother and the Gopis that no one could have
anything but Prema towards Him. That is the characteristic of Avatars at all
times.

945

DHARMA is the very
habiliment of India, the dress that Bharathamatha wears to protect her,
honour to reclaim her status to shelter herself against heat and cold and to
set a standard to her sisters. When the wicked Kaurava princes seized hold
of the sari that Draupadi wore and tried to inflict insult on her honour,
Krishna rescued her and foiled the foul design. Dharmaraja sat as if he was
unaware of his rights and duties. Bhima was involved in doubt concerning his
obligations to his elder brother and his consort. Arjuna cared more for his
own interests. Nakula and Sahadeva waited and weighed the pros and cons. But
the Lord did not wait! His Grace knew no delay or doubt.

946

DHARMA, the very clothes that Bharathamatha has worn
since centuries, which is the expression of her natural style, is now seized
by wicked irreverent hands. They wish to dress her in unbecoming styles on
their own initiative or frenzied dictates. So Krishna has to come again for
resuming the eviction of the wicked. Krishna revealed the hollowness of the
people who were confident of their capacity to dishonour Draupadi and the
weakness of those entrusted with the task of protecting her. Now too, the
Lord has to foil the attempts to undermine Dharma and to stand in support of
those who are the traditional protectors and protagonists of Dharma.

947

YASODA one day was searching for Krishna who had
strayed away. She thought He went to the house of Radha. Radha just closed
her eyes and meditated on Krishna for a while and when she called "Krishna",
Krishna was there. Then Yasoda shed tears of joy. She said, "I love Krishna
as a mother. I have a sense of egoism in me that He is my son and that I
must save Him from harm and seek to give Him guidance and protection. Your
Prema is pure; it has no egoism promoting it".

948

REMEMBER always that it is easy to do what is
pleasant; but it is difficult to be engaged in what is beneficial. Not all
that is pleasant is profitable. Success comes to those who give up the path
strewn with roses and brave the hammer blows and the sword-thrusts of the
path fraught with danger. As a matter of fact, no road is strewn with rose
petals. Life is a battlefield, a Dharmakshetra, where duties and desires are
always in conflict. Smother the fiery fumes of Desire, Hatred and Anger that
rise up in your hearts. It is sheer cowardice to yield to these enemies that
turn you into beasts.

949

THE
vision of the Virat, the Cosmic Form, is given to those who surrender their
ego and take refuge in the Lord (as Arjuna did) and who imbibe with care the
Gita sung by the Lord in the silence. God is Omnipresent. He is the inner
Motivator of every particle in the Universe. To declare that He is amenable
only to your style of worship and that He will answer only the Name that you
have learnt to use, is to insult His Omniscience and His Glory. See Him in
all; serve Him in all; revere Him in all. Pray, "Let the Whole World prosper;
let all mankind be happy".

950

IMAGINE the Prema of the Gopis. One noon, Krishna stealthily entered the
house of a cowherd and drank all the milk in the pot. The Gopi discovered
Him and, when she admonished Him, Krishna took to His heels. When the Gopi
saw Him running over the hard cobblestones of the street, she shed tears of
contrition. "These Lotus feet must feel great pain", she wept. "Oh, what a
great sinner I am", she wailed. Krishna will make the most wicked heart melt
in repentance. He is Premaswarupa and Santhaswarupa and so He makes every
heart sprout up to Prema and Shanthi.

951

VASUDEVASSARVAMIDAM does not mean that all this is
just Krishna, the son of Vasudeva. It means that all this is God, by
whatever Name He is known. So if you decry anyone, you are decrying God,
which is His real core. If you become aware of the God in you and the God in
all else, there is nothing to equal the peace and joy that you get.

952

LET Me tell you, without reforming conduct in daily
behaviour and acts, "Ananda" will be beyond reach. I consider "Pravarthana",
Practice, as essential. A man or an institution is to be judged by his
integrity and whether acts are according to the principles proposed. The
mind, the body and the word; all three must work in unison. By such
disciplined Karma, the senses will be sublimated and Prasanthi won. Then out
of this Prasanthi will arise Prakanthi or the great light. From that will
emerge Paramjyothi, the Supra-splendour of illumination. That illumination
will reveal Param-Atma, the Over-Soul, the Universal.

953

PRASANTHI Nilayam is holding forth and exemplifying
the higher ideals in the material, ethical, economic, moral, spiritual,
worldly and even political fields. There is no place here for anything
contrary. This can be asserted without any possibility of contradiction. In
spite of this, some ignorant individuals rely more on their guesses than on
facts and indulge in spreading wrong conclusions. Let me tell them that if a
single person in the whole world points out a wrong step in Prasanthi
Nilayam, he shall be met with and be convinced that the Prasanthi Nilayam is
eagerly bent upon the task of upholding and demonstrating high and holy
ideals of achieving spiritual realisation. It does not seek those worldly
riches, nor does it yearn for earning favours and fame.

954

IN Prasanthi Nilayam, no misuse or extravagance can
ever happen. For any festival, either Sivarathri, Navarathri or the Birthday,
many people imagine that lakhs of Rupees are spent here. For the Dasara
celebration, all who have come served their best in the fullness of devotion
that dwells in their hearts and so, not a Naya paise is spent for any
purpose. The Rithuriks, who officiate at the Yagna and the lecturers who
deliver discourses, all come and share in the joy out of Love and Faith.
Their comforts are looked after by the members of the Seva Dal and the
Sevasamithis and by the Volunteers who dedicate their strength and skills to
make the Festivals a success. No paise is spent on any item.

955

TODAY, you find the Prasanthi Nilayam area clean and
pleasing. What is the reason? How many sweepers have we employed? How many
coolies are engaged, you may wonder? No, not one, Everyone cleans the place
where he is staying and the adjacent area. Thus, cleanliness is ensured
without any cost. It can be asserted that at no place in the World are
resources put to such good use, with the least expense, as at Prasanthi
Nilayam.

956

MAN has Truth as his
nature, that is to say, you can rely on man's behaviour being always true;
he will speak out only what he feels to be sincere; he will act according to
his words. His thought, word and action will be consistent and complementary.
If in any one case this concordance is absent, then the person is a man only
in outer form. He is worse than a beast, for beasts are free from the
burdens of thought and speech.

957

GOD gives an ear to the prayers that rise in all languages and even from the
silence of the dumb. He has no trace of anger or worry. You too have no
reason to develop anger and anxiety. When the teeth bite your tongue, do you
get angry at them for hurting? Do you break the teeth that hurt it so? No,
teeth and tongue are both yours. Similarly, he who hurts you and you are
both limbs of the same body - God. Feel that Oneness and avoid hate. God is
on the lookout for the inner vision. He blesses those whose hearts are so
vast that they can take in all His children. How can He be pleased when you
are so selfish and narrow minded that you send away His children from the
doorstep of your heart?

958

WHAT
has brought you all, in this vast number, from your homes and villages to
this place?. It is the Love you have for Me, and the Love I have for you.
The reason for your presence is not any force or authority or temptation to
earn material profit or gain. Ponder over the things I have told you out of
My Love. Try to cleanse your minds through repentance for the wrongs done or
contemplated and, through a firm resolve to shape your lives anew according
to the Divine Plan, by which each can stand revealed as fully Divine.

959

RAMA strove to uphold Sathya as the main plank of
Dharma. Whatever the trial and however hard the travail, He did not give up
Truth. Sathyam is Dharmam; Dharmam is Sathyam; the two are irrevocably
intertwined. "Sathyam Vada; Dharmam Chara", say the Upanishads. Rama will be
remembered as long as mountains raise their heads and the ocean exists
because of this strict adherence to Sathya and Dharma. If He had argued "Why
should I be bound by the word of my father?", He would not have earned this
immortality. The Immortal had come in the Form of Rama to show the way to
Immortality.

960

WHEN you travel
towards God, obstacles have to be bypassed. Prahlada went against his father;
Vibhishna went against his brother; Jamadagni had to harm his own mother;
Meera could not obey her husband; because they stuck to the path of God and
broke through all those who opposed them. Young men like you have the
problem, I know, of being forced to marry against your will by parents who
seek to hasten you into marital security. You have to win them over and get
their approval as Sankara did when he wanted to enter the monastic order.

961

BELIEVE that All are God through Jnana, even then
compassion compels you to love and serve. Believe that God is Master or
Father and that you are His children or servants through Bhakti. Even then,
His command is to wipe the tears, nourish the sick, and help the lame to
climb over the stile through pity and sympathy. Believe through faith in
Karma that God has to be adored through dedication. The highest form of
adoration is by means of Seva done in Love.

962

RAMA is the personification of Viveka, the
discriminating faculty of the intellect. Sita and Lakshmana are the higher
levels of consciousness - Sujana and Prajnana. Rama puts an end to evil
feelings and promotes good thoughts. Rama is the emperor of Ayodhya. That
name means impregnable will. No enemy, that is to say, no demeaning feeling
or thought can invade the heart when Rama is installed therein. Thyagaraja
sang "Telisi Rama Chinthana Cheyeve Manasa", (Oh Mind, Meditate on Rama with
the full knowledge of what He represents).

963

INDIA shone for centuries as the Karmabhoomi, where
each activity of man was ennobled by a high purpose and sense of dedication.
She was therefore acclaimed as Yogabhoomi, the land where the people yearned
for atonement with God. She was revered as the Thyagabhoomi, where the ideal
of the mendicant monk, the naked fakir and the simple monarch, counseled by
the sage, was placed before the people through precept and example. At the
present time, it is being forged into a Bhwyabhoomi, the land of skyscrapers,
air conditioning and tinned foods and an undisciplined mass of humanity
pulled from its roots and transplanted in other soils. This is an insult to
our past and a defiance of history.

964

SRI Sathya Sai College is not founded, as some of
you are guessing, to promote financial considerations, nor is it intended as
an instrument for publicity. It will be an example of an inspiration, a
beacon, a pioneer and a lesson for educators and for all those who have the
future of humanity in their hearts. The usual answer to the question, "Why
College education? Is it to help secure jobs? Why this college?" is, "It is
to sweeten the hearts of the future mothers of this land with humility,
faith and discrimination; and to light the path they tread towards truth and
virtue".

965

YOUR car is not meant
to be kept as a showpiece in a glass case. It is meant for the roads, for
taking you fast and safe to the place where you want to go. So too, your
body must serve the purpose of your journey. Journey to where? Not, as it
has been happening, to the cemetery. You have nobler things to do than
merely die! You must know your own Reality before you die and merge in that
supreme joy. Eat just enough to keep the body trim and use the body to
discover this Reality, namely, God. Sanctify every moment of your sojourn
here with pious deeds and sacred thoughts.

966

MAN has been enslaved by money. He lives a
superficial, hollow, artificial life. This is indeed a great pity. Man
should seek to possess only as much money as is most essential for his
living. The quantity of riches one must earn can be compared to the shoes
one wears; if too small, they cause pain; if too big, they are a hindrance
while walking. Money too has to be with us only just enough for a life of
physical and mental comfort. When we have more, it breeds pride, sloth and
contempt for others. In pursuit of money, Man descends to the level of the
beast. Money is of the nature of manure. Piled up in one place, it pollutes
the air. Spread it wide, scatter it over fields - it rewards you with a
bumper harvest. So too, when money is spent in all the four quarters for
promoting good work, it yields contentment and happiness in plenty.